pizza sauce recipe

Is a delicious homemade sauce what you’re looking for when grilling pizza in your garden? If so, you need an easy homemade pizza sauce recipe that will upgrade your pizza to the next level. Follow this article to learn how to cook it before heading to your grill or pizza oven. 🍕

Upgrade your pizzas with a homemade pizza sauce!

First, to make the most delicious pizza, all the ingredients should be of good quality. Bear in mind that apart from the freshness of the vegetables, the cheese and the dough you select will affect the taste of your homemade pizza.

You can easily make a homemade pizza sauce with just a few ingredients and tricks to add a unique flavour to pizzas. Moreover, when making both the best pizza sauce and the pizza itself, many factors such as the intensity of the fire and cooking methods are essential too.

💡The grilling method you use will add a breathtaking contribution to pizza taste. So, visit our 2022 pizza oven buyer’s guide and find the best pizza ovens to grill delicious pizzas for your family and friends.

The best homemade pizza sauce recipe

You invited your friends to have a meeting in your backyard on a cosy Sunday in Algarve. Everything seems perfect; however, you want to crown your pizza with a yummy homemade pizza sauce. Here are the steps to create the perfect sauce for your grilled pizza.

What you need:  

  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic 🧄
  • A small onion finely chopped🧅
  • 1 teaspoon of basil🌿
  • 2 x 400g cans chopped tomatoes🍅
  • A pinch of bay leaves
  • A pinch of brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of oregano.
  • Thyme (optional)
  • Salt to taste

Instructions:

  1. Heat a cooking pot or a casserole to low heat and add the olive oil.
  2. Add the finely-chopped onion into it and fry lightly for 12-15 minutes or until the onion has softened and is turning translucent.
  3. Add the the garlic along with a generous pinch of salt and fry for one more minute. Your homemade pizza sauce will start to smell delicious! 😍
  4. Add the tomato, the bay leaves, the basil, the thyme, the oregano and a pinch of brown sugar. You could also add a bit of pepper for a spicy taste.
  5. Bring to the boil and lower the heat. Keep cooking it on low heat for 15-20 minutes until the consistency is thick enough. For a really smooth result, blend with a stick blender, otherwise leave as it is.
  6. Let it cool and make sure the sauce isn’t to hot when adding to the pizza dough.
homemade pizza sauce recipe
Use a cooking pot, a casserole or a saucepan for cooking your homemade pizza sauce.

Useful tips for cooking an easy homemade pizza sauce

✔️ For a more natural result, you could rather choose fresh tomatoes instead of the canned version. Bear in mind that fresh tomatoes are more watery. This means the cooking time can be longer. 

✔️ You don’t need lots of ingredients, just great-quality ones. Sometimes, less is more.

✔️ To have a thick and reduced consistency, make sure you boil the sauce over medium or low heat and keep stirring with a wooden spoon.

❌ Avoid using frozen ingredients when preparing the sauce for your grilled pizza. Remember, the fresher your ingredients, the tastier your sauce will be.

❌ Heat is not a pizza sauce’s friend. Therefore, don’t cook your homemade pizza sauce on high heat.

How to cook the best pizza sauce from scratch in Algarve

Although we eat lots of seafood in the Algarve, we also consume a lot of pizza and spaghetti. The Portuguese coast doesn’t escape the influence of Italian food!

The most famous Italian restaurants in the Algarve offer excellent quality pizzas served with the sweetest tomatoes and spices, such as oregano, bay and basil.

To make a pizza sauce as delicious as the ones you taste in restaurants, pay attention to the ingredients you buy to grill at home. Choose fresh tomatoes, fresh spices and Portuguese (or Spanish) Extra Virgin Olive Oil to get the real magic!

homemade pizza
ALFA pizza ovens are the best ovens to grill outdoors and get excellent results!

Besides all the ingredients we mentioned above, when preparing your homemade pizza sauce recipe, as in all Portuguese dishes, the proper cooking times and method and the love and care added to it also affect the taste.

What is the difference between Pizza Sauce and Spaghetti Sauce?

Pizza sauce and spaghetti sauce are tomato-based, plus they have roughly the same seasonings, but what’s the difference? Aren’t they the same thing? Actually, no. Tomato sauces meant for pasta (marinara sauces) are typically runnier than pizza sauce, and the flavour is a bit different.

Pizza sauce is typically made with pureed tomatoes or tomato paste, causing it to be a thicker consistency than pasta sauce. This thicker sauce prevents the dough from getting too soggy while the pizza cooks.

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On the other hand, pasta sauce or spaghetti sauce is generally made with crushed tomatoes that boost the water content in the sauce, making it thinner than pizza sauce. The lighter sauces quickly cover your spaghetti thoroughly to provide flavour in every bite.

Also, pasta sauce typically only include basic seasonings like salt, pepper, and dried oregano. In contrast, pizza sauce features a variety of spices such as oregano, Italian seasoning, garlic, salt, onions, and sugar to perfectly complement the fats and oils in cheeses used for pizza.

Let’s grill some pizzas!

We hope you liked this recipe! You can find more helpful information on our 2022 pizza oven buyer’s guide.

Check our shop and all the pizza ovens available with free assembly in Algarve! Moreover, If you live in Portugal, be sure to visit our shop and showroom in Almancil, Algarve.

This article was written with the help of reliable information and sources such as BBC Good Food.

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